Castillo served with recall at graduation

Friday

May 29, 2009 at 12:01 AMJan 12, 2010 at 8:07 PM

STOCKTON - The moments following the first-ever graduation for a Stockton high school took a surreal twist Thursday night when a district teacher staked out school board President Dan Castillo and followed him into a backstage room, where she served him with a notice that he's being targeted for recall.

Roger Phillips

STOCKTON - The moments following the first-ever graduation for a Stockton high school took a surreal twist Thursday night when a district teacher staked out school board President Dan Castillo and followed him into a backstage room, where she served him with a notice that he's being targeted for recall.

The teacher, Lori Muller-Gray of Adams Elementary, served Castillo with a one-page document that included 18 signatures. The document charged that Castillo has ignored his "fiduciary responsibility" and "blindly" supported Superintendent Tony Amato while he "squandered millions on non-state-approved educational programs which exacerbated the (district's) fiscal crisis." It also cited an angry outburst by Castillo at a district employee and a parent during a recent board meeting.

Thursday's encounter took place in the greenroom at San Joaquin Delta College's Atherton Auditorium, where Castillo, Amato and others had congregated following the ceremony honoring the first graduating class from the Merlo Institute of Environmental Technology.

Muller-Gray, a 16-year district employee, entered the room accompanied by an 11-year-old girl she had recruited from the audience. The teacher handed Castillo the document and explained what it was. The girl, Nightingale Elementary sixth-grader Jessica Cardona, shook Castillo's hand.

"Thanks very much," Castillo told Muller-Gray. Then he joked, "It means more time with my family."

Later, a more serious Castillo said, "A lot of people are not happy right now because of the economic situation. We have to concentrate on educating kids, graduating kids, doing what we have to do as board members. I'm president of the board. I take responsibility for it."

Amato said, "There are so many good things going on in the district right now. It's so sad the district still has to be in this type of turmoil. ... Could you imagine how much more we could do if people worked together? We could be one of the best districts in California. I'm not going to lose hope that we can do that."

The effort by Muller-Gray to serve Castillo began at an afternoon celebration in south Stockton at Grant Elementary, which closed Thursday after 111 years.

When Castillo didn't attend the event, she drove across town to Delta and the Merlo graduation.

Muller-Gray was wearing what she said was a chocolate outfit in honor of an anonymous blogger named Chocolate, who lately has been a strident cybercritic of Castillo and Amato.

Recall advocates must collect about 2,000 signatures in order to put before voters the question of whether Castillo will get to serve the remaining 18 months of his term.

Muller-Gray threatened that recall efforts against other board members could follow if trustees do not remove Amato from office.

She criticized spending by Amato on a variety of new programs, most controversially his advocacy of the $6 million Success For All reading program, which was shelved after five months amid the threat of sanctions because it is not approved by the California Department of Education.

"We want to send a message that we're not going to put up with Mr. Amato, either, and we're going to take him out of office," Muller-Gray said.

Castillo has stood by Amato, who has been in his job for 10 months, even as Trustees Beverly Fitch McCarthy, Bill Ross and Sal Ramirez became increasingly critical. Castillo and Ross have clashed since before Amato was hired, but Ross has said he is not involved in the recall effort.

McCarthy, who also attended the Merlo graduation, said she is not involved in the recall, either, but added that "this never would have happened" if Castillo had agreed in December to a rotation of the board presidency. Castillo is in his second term as board president.

Trustee Jose Morales, himself the target of a failed recall effort last month, criticized the attempt to unseat Castillo.

"Recalling a board member now, in the middle of an economic crisis?" Morales said. "How does that benefit kids?"

Muller-Gray said she was acting on behalf of children, which is why she asked Lorenza Cardona if her daughter, Jessica, could join her.

"It was important to bring a child with me to serve Mr. Castillo," Muller-Gray said.

Before the ceremony, Muller-Gray had explained to Cardona why she was serving Castillo. Reached later by phone, Jessica said, "She asked me if I wanted to volunteer. I went up with her to the back room."

Cardona, who speaks Spanish but not English, was asked her opinion of Stockton Unified's direction.

According to Jessica, Cardona said "she doesn't have an opinion, because she hasn't been up to date about that."